QuadJobs instead of odd jobs

Employment service links college students with families who need help

Brittany Lyte

Updated 9:50 pm, Thursday, July 24, 2014

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QuadJobs founders' Bridie Clark Loverro, Andra Newman and Betsy O'Reilly. The women, all Greenwich residents, are launching an online job board across Fairfield County that pairs college students with local jobs. less

QuadJobs founders' Bridie Clark Loverro, Andra Newman and Betsy O'Reilly. The women, all Greenwich residents, are launching an online job board across Fairfield County that pairs college students with local ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

QuadJobs instead of odd jobs

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A new online job board that links employment-hungry college kids with local families and businesses in need of hired help will launch in Fairfield County this summer.

QuadJobs is the brain child of three Greenwich women -- co-founders Bridie Clark Loverro, Andra Newman and Betsy O'Reilly -- who wanted to create a service that provides savvy students with a gold mine for jobs and employers with a Rolodex of pre-vetted job candidates.

Loverro, a novelist who co-founded New Haven-based Blue State Coffee, said she and her partners were inspired to create the online job board by their memories of trying to build up a resume of work experience as college students.

"All three of us had taken odd jobs that didn't really amount to much on our resumes," she said. "Whether it was baby-sitting, dog walking, piano lessons -- we felt like there was something missing in the way we as college students found jobs and the way they were tracked. So we came up with QuadJobs as something that we feel is the way for college kids to break the cycle of, `You need experience to get jobs and you need jobs to get experience.' "

Loverro said the service is equally valuable for employers. "Here in Fairfield County, where we have larger than average households, people need extra help and it's great to have college kids to come into your home and help you with what you need, be it a mom who wants to hire a calculus tutor for her child or a small business looking for people to make deliveries."

The three founders come from diverse backgrounds. O'Reilly is a former banker and a member of the Brunswick School Parent Association. Newman has worked in human resources and recruitment for a decade at places like Abercrombie & Fitch and J. Crew.

Loverro said the company won't begin soliciting gigs from employers until late September, when she hopes the site will have an established pool of hundreds of students from all backgrounds and skill sets ready to be hired.

"The reason we're focused exclusively on college and graduate students is it's flexible, smart help," Loverro said. "You can find that amazing tutor or you can find that guy from the lacrosse team to come throw the lacrosse ball with your child on a Saturday afternoon and know you have someone of high quality."

As students land and complete jobs, their employers will have the option to review their performance, creating a track record of each student's experience.

"We're trying to replicate the word-of-mouth way of networking in a digital way," Loverro said. "The feedback loop it really important because it gives employers a certain level of comfort in hiring. It allows them to basically have a reference immediately without having to make phone calls."

The service is free to students. Employers will pay an $8.95 monthly subscription fee in exchange for the ability to post unlimited listings for full-time, part-time, seasonal or one-time jobs.

"We've put a lot of time, effort and money into a very sophisticated website so that you're not just throwing a job posting out into the world and seeing replies," Loverro said. "This is a really targeted process. Kids who are really hard-working and go after these jobs are going to do really well with it."